The Truth
by dasayles
Summary: Vegeta first tells Bulma his feelings. A broken warrior's heart and the only thing that can heal it. One Shot


_**The Truth: Vegeta's Love**_

Standing with his hand pressed against a tile covered wall, water runs through Vegeta's spiked hair. The solemn look on his face shows his dissatisfaction with his defeat at the hands of the tyrant, his former master, Frieza. However, as solemn as his expression grows, his face can never express his self-loathing. The torture of watching a low level soldier surpass him, takes a tremendous toll on his state of mind, his psyche, but most of all his pride.

The awakening of the Super Saiyan state, a birthright he was taught belonged only to him, was achieved by the same low level trash who usurped him as the greatest of all Saiyans. The mental anguished caused by such a calamity…such an atrocity, is nearly unbearable to the Saiyan Prince. As the water rolls down his back a question lingers in his mind: How could a mere soldier do what he, the Prince of all Saiyans, could not. The torment, the agony, the pure unadulterated torture caused by this numbing discernment sends tears rolling down his cheeks. However, the water from the shower blends perfectly with Vegeta's streaming tears.

Nearly thirty minutes pass and Vegeta finally reaches down and turns the handle to the shower, shutting it off. He steps out of the shower, wraps himself in a towel, and sits on his bed. The bedroom is small but comfortable. A twin sized bed with blue flowers sitting in the window. A desk covered with dozens of schematics for inventions hundreds of years beyond current technological capabilities, sits on the opposite side of the room. The vibrant yellow walls of the room have a somewhat rejuvenating affect. As he stretches out on the bed, and rests his head on the capsule corporation logo on the pillow case, he feels his mood begin to lighten, and he almost cracks a smile as his body begins to rest from a long day of training.

Just as he closes his eyes a blaring knock raps upon the door. *THUMP THUMP THUMP* He sits up straight in the bed from the startling noise emanating from the door. He turns to the door and screams, "WHAT!"HE leaps from the bed and nearly crushes the door handle as he turns the knob. The door slowly opens, and a woman steps through the threshold. This woman, for the past two months, has been nothing but an annoyance. However, as he gazes upon her this day he sees a shimmering red evening gown as vibrant as the setting sun. He'd never seen her like this before, beautiful ravishing, utterly breathtaking. Her blue hair runs down the side of her face, reminding him of the beautiful waterfalls of his home world, Vegeta. The memory of the beautiful waterfalls of his home world enhance the beauty of her face to an almost irresistible level.

Bulma sees the towel wrapped around Vegeta's waist and can't help but to scan the rest of his body, relishing the pure perfection of a chiseled physique standing before her. As her gaze continues upward, she stops at his eyes. The intensity of his eyes look as if they could burn a hole through the thickest steel…yet his gaze chills her to the bone. These cold, stern eyes, on Namek plagued her nightmares, but now they're covered in water, almost as if the prideful Saiyan prince had actually been crying, not showering. However, Bulma simply shrugs off this thought as the illusion of the water. Bulma smiles at Vegeta and reaches to her right, grabbing a medium sized towel. She steps to Vegeta, who has a puzzled look on his face, and wipes the water from his face. However, by doing this she not only wiped away the water, but also his tears.

Vegeta almost smiles as she wipes away his tears, but his pride takes over saying: _You can't let this woman see you cry. _Before Bulma can say anything, Vegeta snaps saying, "WHAT ARE YOU DOING WOMAN? I AM PERFECTLY CAPABLE OF WIPING MY OWN FACE!"

Bulma is taken back by Vegeta's response to her act of kindness. Her frustration along with his two months of complaining and nagging finally mount, and she rears back and smacks him on the right cheek. Her slap leaves a pulsating red mark on his face.

Vegeta's hand immediately goes to the pulsating hand print as he says, "WHAT WAS THAT FOR? And why do you have on that ridiculous get up?"

The moment the second question leaves his lips, another slap connects with Vegeta's face, leaving another mark, this time on the left cheek. Bulma then drops her head and says, "I was wearing this ridiculous get up because of my father's 55th birthday celebration."

Vegeta then says, "Well, why are you here?"

Bulma then reaches back to slap Vegeta again, but Vegeta lifts his hands to protect himself. Bulma then puts her arms at her sides and says, "I came here to bring you your Tuxedo, so you can come too."

Vegeta scoffs and says, "You must be insane. You'll never convince me to put on that penguin suit. Besides, why should I go to the buffoon's party?"

By this time Bulma is irate, "Because you're living in his house. Because you eat more than my entire family and you don't cook. Because you do nothing but train. You never take the time to look at the flowers or even to notice if the rain has left a rainbow. You know nothing of beauty all you know is violence, and death. If you keep it up your going to train yourself to death. Don't ever disrespect my father. Do you know who cleans the training room after you leave? That buffoon does. You'll be there tonight, AND THAT'S FINAL!"

Hearing Bulma's tirade, Vegeta steps back, but quickly responds, "Understand woman, that I'm the prince of all Saiyans. I do not and will not fall to the whims of a pampered brat. I'm not going to the party. I've put my foot down and that's it."

Bulma looks Vegeta in the eyes with anger and disgust, but before she says anything she notices that tears are beginning to run down her face. She quickly wipes her tears and says, "Vegeta if that's the way you feel you don't have to come…"

Vegeta then interrupts, "FINE!"

Bulma continues, "But if you're not there, I'm not repairing the training equipment, and you'll have to cook your own food. The room you sleep in will be recapsulized and I'll never forgive you. I just wanted to show you that life can be more than just training. I wanted to show you the other side of life." Bulma walks through the threshold of the door and pulls the door shut. Before she even gets away from the door she turns to the wall slapping it with all her might. After slapping the wall she begins sobbing uncontrollably.

Inside the room, Vegeta hears Bulma sobbing and something inside of him shakes. He walks to the door and slowly opens it giving Bulma just enough time to stand up straight, and wipe her eyes. Vegeta then grabs her by the wrist and says, "Fine woman, I'll go to your stupid party." An elated smile covers Bulma's face and she walks down the hall.

Before she leaves she turns back saying, "I'll be back in about an hour to help you get ready."

Vegeta turns back into the room and rests his head in his hands and says, "What have I gotten myself into?"

That night at Doctor Brief's birthday dinner, everyone at the party gawks and stares at Bulma's date. Vegeta leans over to Bulma and says, "I told you that I shouldn't have come. Everyone is staring at me."

Bulma looks over to Vegeta, with a smile on her face as she says, "If only we could just get that crazy hair of yours to stay down."

Vegeta scoffs and says, "A Saiyan's hair is one of the prides of his life. Never growing an inch from the day he is born."

Bulma laughs saying, "Well I guess that's why Goku always had the same haircut no matter where he was."

Vegeta looks to Bulma saying, "Don't talk to me of that clown Kakarot."

Earlier that evening: Vegeta screams, "Argh, stop it. You're pulling my hair."

Bulma reaches into her purse and pulls out a capsule. She depresses the button on the top and throws it to the ground. In a puff of smoke, tub of hair gel, industrial strength, appears on the ground. Bulma reaches into the bottle and slaps a glob of gel onto Vegeta's head. After a few seconds of styling, Vegeta's hair looks astonishingly similar to Gohan's hair on Namek. However, like cannon fire, Vegeta's hair shoots up into its original style, throwing the glob of gel into a mirror, shattering it, and nearly taking off Bulma's head in the process.

With a bewildered look on her face, Bulma says, "I guess we're done with gel, hehehe." She takes a step away from Vegeta and falls to the floor.

Back at the dinner: Bulma and Vegeta sit down at the table. The tension between the two is almost palpable. Bulma looks up at Vegeta and sees that he's deep in thought. She smiles at him and says, "So Vegeta, how has the training been going. You come up with any new techniques, I don't know you could maybe name one something like," She makes her voice like a television announcer, "BIG BANG ATTACK. Or maybe something simple like, Final Flash."

Vegeta laughs and says, "Those names are ridiculous. Who would name a technique something like that?"

Bulma's cheeks flush red and she says, "I was just trying to show some interest in what you love. I'm sorry." Then she hangs her head as she says, "Vegeta, did you mean what you said earlier… you know, about my dress being ridiculous."

Bulma didn't know it, but Vegeta had wanted to apologize about that statement from the moment he made it, but his pride wouldn't let him. Vegeta hangs his head and says, "Of course I meant it you looked and still do look ridiculous."

Bulma bursts into tears covering her face as she makes incredibly loud sobbing noises. All 200 people at Professor Brief's birthday party turn toward the loud sobbing and begin to murmur about Vegeta. Seeing all the people begin to talk amongst themselves probably about him. Vegeta turns to Bulma saying, "Stop it woman. Stop crying. You're drawing attention towards us."

Bulma continues crying, "I…I thought you were going to say that I was only joking, but you said I looked ridiculous."

Vegeta places his hand on her back and says, "You didn't look ridiculous." Vegeta thinks deeply about what he's going to say next and finally says, "You looked as radiant as the setting sun. The way your hair flowed down your face was like a waterfall cascading onto your beautiful face."

Completely in awe, Bulma wipes the tears from her face and says, "That was the most beautiful thing I've ever heard."

Vegeta then snaps back, "That's the only thing nice I've ever said to you. Don't get used to it, and don't go blowing this whole thing out of proportion."

However, in his mind he knew that from the moment he first saw Bulma. She was the most beautiful creature he'd ever seen. Even now he can only admire her beauty. He was never the one to show his emotions none but rage, and even more so, pride. Bulma looks him in the face and says, "Vegeta, I… Why are you like this? Why are you so cold?"

Then a thought of his days living with his father return to him, "Words are weakness my son. To win the heart of a true fighter, she must be willing to share in your weakness. The words 'I love you' should never leave your lips until you see your end. Then let it be sincere, and let your death be worth of your noble blood."

Vegeta takes a deep breath and says, "The way I am? I was raised to be cold, calculating, and ruthless. My escape is pain. My escape is to inflict pain. That is one of the few things that I've found in life that actually brings me pleasure." Bulma looks up to Vegeta with a puzzled look and Vegeta continues, "I put myself through unspeakable pain only to make myself better than the one who enslaved me, but now better than the one that bested me."

Bulma says, "Only to make yourself better than Goku, but you don't have to be better than him, and bringing others pain will never bring you true happiness."

Vegeta then says, "You don't know what will bring me true happiness. Becoming the greatest of my race will bring me happiness, how could it not? Why am I even talking to you? You can't possibly know what it feels like to be held captive by another, or to know how it feels to have your every decision made only so that you may serve another. That's what I've lived through my entire life. It has been my dream to break free of those bonds since I was child, but then to serve him and find that it wasn't an asteroid or some cosmic phenomenon that took your heritage, it was the one you spent your entire life serving. It fed my pride. It ripped my soul. I waited my entire life to take that fiend, but in the end I found that my strength wasn't great enough. Then I received another slap in the face. I had my birthright stolen, by some pauper, who not only stole my birthright, but also my revenge. It's too great to endure. It's eating me up from the inside out. I must make my outside stronger so that I can ward off my total destruction."

Tears run down Bulma's face as she sits and listens to Vegeta's story. What he has done a Saiyan only does to the woman who will be his life partner. He has explained to her the fullness of his weakness now he only awaits her response.

Bulma leans over the table and as she approaches Vegeta, they both close their eyes. They inch closer and closer together until finally their lips touch. The very instant their lips touch, an explosion happens within both Vegeta and Bulma. Bulma pulls away and says, "Vegeta…I'll do all that I can to help make your outside strong enough to handle any type of damage. But what's more important to me is that I help repair your torn tortured soul. That is what I'll do for you."

Finally, Vegeta smiles. However, this smile is different from any other smile he's ever had. This smile doesn't come from pride or strength. This is the smile that only a Saiyan who has found their life partner can experience. Vegeta takes Bulma's hand, they walk from the party, and the rest, you know as history.


End file.
